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Finding the Balance Between Activity and Rest · Sri Aurobindo Studies

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  With the advent of modern society, the instantaneous
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  technological experience, and an external life that puts a value
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  on being active, being productive, we see the increased
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  pressure for people to stay in motion without taking into
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  account the factor of fatigue and the need for rest.
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  People tend to brag about how many hours they work, how little
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  sleep they get, and how active they are at every moment.
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  It is almost as if any time spent in quiet reflection,
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  simply breathing, daydreaming, sleeping, or otherwise engaging
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  in quiet time is considered to be time wasted.
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  A famous proverb in the West says that time is money.
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  This is meant to equate the leveraged use of our time to our
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  potential to gain financial power at some level or another.
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  Many people work two or three jobs, plus maintain a household
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  and care for children, and keep the cooking, cleaning, and other
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  activities all in motion. At the same time, traditional
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  societies in various parts of the world still maintain a less
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  frenetic life and are not so wedded to the clock and to the
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  idea of constant striving as modern civilization.
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  But with the spread of technology, they too are
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  adapting to the demands of modern day life over time.
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  Of course, for most people, this constant state of activity
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  brings eventually what is called burnout.
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  There can be deep fatigue, exhaustion, physical, nervous,
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  emotional or mental breakdowns and there is frequently an
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  attempt to forget about the pressures of the outer life
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  through use of alcohol, drugs or through participation in
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  mindless entertainment such as is provided by television, mass
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  sporting events or through frequenting of bars, nightclubs
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  or other venues where the individual can release the pent
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  up pressures on the nervous system.
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  This cycle of frantic action followed by periods of
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  exhaustion and dissipation eventually leads to breakdown of
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  health at all levels of the being.
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  Some people then use times of vacation to visit places that
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  give them a sense of peace, relaxation, and restoration of
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  their energy, well-being, and balance.
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  Although the drive toward activity sometimes defeats the
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  positive aspects of taking a vacation, there is another way,
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  a way that spiritual secrets try to incorporate into their lives.
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  They may still have residual habits pushing them to try to be
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  and stay active all the time. They may begin, however, to
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  appreciate that there is a need for balance between activity and
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  rest, and the times of quiet are not being wasted, but are
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  restoring the energy and helping the seeker.
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  Redirect attention to aspects of existence not tied to worldly
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  activity and success in the terms of monetary or other forms
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  of remuneration. They may start with a class or
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  with a retreat. Some individuals join
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  monasteries, cloisters, communes, or ashrams in order to
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  shift their life focus away from the fixation on the pattern of
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  worldly action followed by fatigue and dissipation.
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  Others may simply use times of vacation to visit places that
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  give them a sense of peace, relaxation and restoration of
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  their energy, well-being and balance.
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  Spiritual disciplines which encourage development of a
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  harmonious and balanced life, take into account the needs of
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  the body, the nervous system, the emotional being and the mind
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  for periods of activity and periods of quietude and help the
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  seeker thereby to seek the pattern imprinted by the society
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  and overcome its subtle influence on the way they see
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  and act as they focus on the work before them, Fiorabondo
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  observes. Quote, when you feel tired,
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  don't over strain yourself, but rest doing only your ordinary
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  work. Restlessly doing something or
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  other all the time is not the way to cure it.
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  To be quiet without and within is what is needed.
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  When there is this sense of fatigue, there's always a
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  strength near you which you can call in and will remove these
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  things, but you must learn to be quiet in order to receive it.
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  It is a mistake to over strain as there is a reaction
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  afterwards. If there is energy, all must not
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  be spent, some must be stored up so as to increase the permanent
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  strength of the system. End Quote.
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  Reference Srioro Bindo and the Mother, Looking from Within,
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  Chapter 3, Action and Work, pages 66 to 67.